Well, it must be an early spring, yesterday I got hammered by a nasty one on the Knox trail. Scared the living daylights out of me. What do others do to avoid being killed by these aggressive buggers? Do the zip ties work? What about the eye stickers?

Last time they swapped a premiership winner coach (Leigh Matthews) for their former captain and "favorite son" (Tony Shaw), they fell from their perch. Me thinks history is repeating... every week they look less threatening as the Malthouse is trained out of them.

lol is that why people put zip ties on their helmets. Been riding for half a year, and every so often notice some old geezer with zip ties sticking out. Always thought it was to hold the foam of their helmet in place!

I'm not sure things such as stick on eyes/faces etc really work - considering that some magpies will attack/go for a riders eyes/face (so they obviously aren't scared off by eyes looking at them).

I suspect the theory behind the success of the zip ties is that because they protrude out from the helmet so far the bird cannot get close enough to the helmet to strike - though they could land on your shoulder and have a go at your ear/face.

Anyone that could come up with a magpie deterrent device that was "reliable" could make quite a bit of money....as it is very annoying (and dangerous for those moving through these areas either on bike or on foot), but the birds are only doing what their instinct tells them to do (protect their family/nest/territory)....though it seems some are only interested in their own rights.

Thankfully I haven't had any try to attack my face so I generally try to get down low and move out of the area as quickly as possible (at a safe speed and manner).If I can hear the bird directly above/behind me I tend to move my hand across the top of my helmet to deter the bird from trying to land/strike.Once you hit the boundary of the birds perceived territory, it will turn around and fly back to its nest.

If you know a particularly savage bird resides at a certain location, find another route around the area (if possible) or avoid riding in that area altogether during the magpie season.It's really not that hard, is it?

Last year I had two types of birds nesting in trees outside my house at the same time, Magpies and Wattle birds. Only the Wattle birds would swoop down every time a cyclist went passed or someone walking passed and every time I went to the letterbox!, and more than one time did I see a cyclist almost come a gutser because of the Wattle birds. The Magpies didn't swoop at all.

I have 2 areas to avoid, one right near my house but they seem to have learnt I am no threat and by the end of the season gave up but there is another one who had a go at my ear last year. The get the arm wave and me yelling a F-Off very loudly at it.

I would fit anti-aircraft gun to the bike but my carrying the weight up the 1 in 20 would be a killer

some sort of light weight death ray fitted to the helmet would be good

yarravalleyplodder wrote:there is another one who had a go at my ear last year.

There is one on Rickertt Road on the way to Wellington Point (a popular cycling route) that only attacks your left ear and is very good at drawing blood. It doesn't matter which side of the road your on, or which direction your headed, it only goes for your left ear and has a hit rate greater than 50%. The road through it's territory doesn't have any shoulder and if you're getting hit it can be a dicey run with the traffic. You can take the shared path that runs adjacent to the road through it's territory to avoid the magpie wobbles from it's first hit and subsequent arm waving amongst the traffic, but you're 100% guaranteed to get hit on this path.

came under attack for the first time today, 100m from home. Hopefully like last season he works out after a couple of weeks I am no threat. One issue, most of my cycling gear is black & white, I am sure it doesnt help.

Had my first magpie attack today. Heard a "flap" that scared the crap out of me, and made me lose my balance for a little bit, turn around and see a magpie fly way. He didn't touch me or anything but he/she was bloody close to my ear.

I was swooped last saturday and the poor bugger got caught in my helmet briefly before crash landing on the road. I didn't stop to help him but he was back at the same spot today for round two. What a trooper...